Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2021 / ia / Paper 4 / 4C / Solution

Writing $x_i=(x_i,y_i,z_i)$, rotation about the $z$-axis gives particle $i$ the speed $\omega \sqrt{x_i^2+y_i^2}$. Its kinetic energy is therefore $m_i{\omega }^2(x_i^2+y_i^2)/2$, soThis is the defining mass sum for the moment of inertia about the $z$-axis.

For the uniform cuboid, the mass density is $\rho =M/(8abc)$ and